Prelude - The Breeze Before The Storm
by PsychoJazOoi
Summary: With the threat of the Abyssal Fleet vanished through the victory achieved in Operation MI, the oceans across the globe are back at peace again. As they settled back to their usual life, numerous mystery, abnormal activities suddenly spurred at all 5 oceans, which leads to the discovery that will ultimately change the life of every Kanmusu forever.
1. Chapter 1: The Unusual Discovery

Hello viewers, this would be my "real" fanfic for the first time! Inspired by the game and anime Kantai Collection, known in short as Kancolle, I attempted to continue the storyline left over from the last episode of the anime, where I would come up with the storyline of my own, with relevance with the characters involved, either in the game, anime or so on, just so you know. Cheers!

Please take note that with the involvement of other naval powers of World War Two in the upcoming story, and with the game and anime itself insufficient of characters required for the storyline, I'll have to include other ships from real life history, and from the game World of Warships, where my new characters that will be subsequently introduced into the story will come from. But no worries, just warships from both World Wars are involved, so stay worry free about AEGIS destroyers, nuclear submarines (although world-war-era submarines do come into my mind for the story), Tomahawk missiles, F-22 jet fighters, et cetera.

On the other hand, I would like to present my utmost sincere appreciation to the user _nimblefire_ for being extremely supportive and encouraging for me myself to step in this field of creating my very own fanfiction, being helpful in pointing out my mistakes in the storyline and providing useful suggestions and critics for my story, even though she's not in line with me regarding the genre and the plots that I'm currently writing on. I do suggest that readers can proceed to read her fanfiction "Flame In The Dark", based on the anime Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA), as I would like to thank her for her support all along. Thanks, _nimblefire_!

Last but not least, please remember that I owned nothing from the game and anime Kancolle and (later on) World of Warships, I am just contributing my own storyline. If you have any idea, suggestions and critics regarding this story, feel free to write in the comment sections below, I am always wide open for suggestions and improvements anytime. Plus, I'll update my storyline as soon as possible and whenever my time permits, as I am currently pursuing my Pre-University study, therefore any inconvenience caused is much regretful. Not forgetting many thanks for all viewers!

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It's already 1:30 a.m. in the morning. The skies across the horizon were nothing but pitch black, decorated by only the dim moonlight that offered at least some degree of brightness to the already sleeping Yokosuka Naval District on the east coast of the Nation of Rising Sun. With most, if not all of its occupants already wandering amongst the dreamland, the arena which is usually hustle and bustle with life has fallen to its serenity and peaceful scene.

But this night was a little bit different. 3 of the occupants are still awake. Unable to fell asleep, they are being bothered by _something_.

"I really wonder what those noises are about poi." Yuudachi voiced. She starred out from her dormitory room into somewhere of the dark sky, looking curiously at the source of the noises, seemingly searching for it.

"Hmmm…well, there looks like noises from propellers. Most probably from engines of planes." Fubuki answered, standing right beside her, looking at the same direction as her.

"But where? I don't see any planes anywhere. Too dark to see, maybe. Quite odd." Mutsuki replied, feeling bit of frustration that she couldn't see any of the objects which stirred up her curiosity just moments ago.

"Hold on," Yuudachi said. Soon after, she pointed towards the moon, gesturing the other two to follow her to the source. "There! There! I saw it. Not it, but them poi!"

There aren't just single, but plural. Planes flying in formation, with the larger ones, presumably military transport planes, surrounded by a few smaller ones, most likely fighter escorts that provided constant aerial cover and protection to the vital "payloads" inside those transport planes.

And there wasn't just one, but multiple formation of planes flying one after another. The fact that they flew in line, one after another and somehow didn't collide or jinxed among one another is quite astounding, given such low visibility condition that they were currently flying in right now.

"I saw them…why there are so many planes all of the sudden? Is there anything going to happen soon? I'm worried." Mutsuki looked at those planes in the sky, deep inside her heart she wondered what are the purposes of that really unusual sight that currently unfolds right in front of them.

"Heh, you worried too much Mutsuki-chan. Maybe there're just some official matters going on with the admiral. Maybe there's a meeting between them or so later. Those planes are foreign planes. Maybe some important figures from other countries are coming to meet our admiral." Fubuki patted her head while explaining, comforting her.

"Wow. How do you know they don't belong to us poi?" Yuudachi asked her, quite in astonishment that her roommate know something she can't even figure out right away.

"Look at those planes' body." Fubuki pointed towards the planes as they move across their view. "There are various kinds of insignia and emblem painted on each of them. And none of those are from our own, Japanese ones." Fubuki replied.

Indeed, those planes originated from several other countries. First, they saw ones that looked alike a "plus" sign, with each of its end becoming wider up till its tips compared to the middle. Without any doubt, they quickly knew that those are the Iron Cross, representing one of the two major allies of Japan in the Second World War, or with detail, their brother-in-arms on the other side of the globe at that time. Those planes, are from Germany.

Next up, they saw planes with quite simple roundel designs, a red circle in the middle, with a white circumference on its outside and a blue one as the outermost layer. Put it quite simply, they're from the United Kingdom. Thinking back, with not much fighting that existed between these two nations except for some skirmishes in the early and late months of the Pacific War, the Japanese didn't really hold much grudges against the Brits, since commenting with a philosophical mindset, they were just having an empire as the ones Japan dreamt of having one so much back then.

Thirdly, it's almost the same shape and design with the previous ones, just this time their colours altered from the other. Green in the middle, with white ones circling as first layer before the red ones as its outer layer. They're from Italy, Japan's second most important ally after Germany. Not much roleplay in the East compared to Germany, Fubuki guess.

Then, comes the one with (again) the same design, also with different colour schemes compared with the previous two. Or with a more direct approach, just an opposite with the United Kingdom: Red on the outermost layer, and blue in the middle. France, being the fourth in line, and (again), same with the British, the far-flung distances separating the two never really put both of them into direct fierce combat against each other in the war.

Following Italy, the plane formation is quite huge, which completely paled out those from other countries. With like three or four large planes in the middle, surrounded by like a dozen or two smaller ones in virtually all direction, this provided the best protection for the occupants in the middle of the formation. In this large group of planes, it's not difficult to notice their emblem: A white star with dark blue circle as its background, with some sort of blue, plus white and red stripes running across both ends like a medal on a strip. This stunning discovery, combined with the scale of the formation that passed in front of them like swarm of bees, rekindled their memory regarding the histories they had with the nation of the said emblem, or be more exact: Pacific War. This immediate realisation quickly sent shivers down their spines, but the three girls still held out well. There could be unmistaken proof, that the said country belongs to Uncle Sam - United States of America.

Last but not least, there came the ones that really did the job of keeping those girls at bay, or to-be-honest, right in their hearts. With red coloured stars bordered with thin lines of blue, white then again red painted on their planes, struck them hard in their memories. Even with the signing of the non-aggression pact by both Japan and the said country on the outbreak of World War Two, which, enabled the Japanese military to focus their empire's expansion southwards and safeguarded their northern flank, yet at the end, that nation almost destroyed their home country, their people and most importantly, their identity of being a Japanese. To tell the truth, the Americans did the most in curtailing their plans of establishing a Greater East Asia Empire by jeopardising their ambitions and murdering so many of her comrades, but its that nation that almost wiped them off the face of Earth. It's Russia, formally known as the Soviet Union.

They starred vividly into the night sky, watched silently as the planes passing over the shoreline of the Naval District, one after another. With the planes faded into the night sky as the dark surroundings slowly embraced them, the three girls moved away from the window, quite astonished by what they just saw moments before.

"Well, that quite amazing poi! I never saw a scene like those in my entire life ever before!" Yuudachi exclaimed, but she kept it to a relatively low volume as not to startle the other occupants of the Destroyer's Dormitory.

"Yup you're right. I've never seen such an amazing view before! Planes from different nations gathered altogether, flying in a unison at the same time and in the same space? There must be something going on. Right, Fubuki-chan?" Mutsuki looked at Fubuki.

"Agreed. There must be something going on with the admiral." Fubuki fell silent for a moment before she spoke. "Wait a sec…those six countries: Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, France, United States, Russia…maybe thinking of something striking, aren't they?" Fubuki asked, with her mind twist-and-turned with facts that are getting relevant with what they just saw.

"What is it Fubuki-chan? I see… do you mean that all of them are the major naval powers of World War Two? All those emblems, planes…from what I can relate, they belong to the Kriegsmarine, Regia Marina, Marine Nationale, Royal Navy, United States Navy, Voyenno-morskoy flot SSSR…Wow, they all are somehow connected poi!" Yuudachi said, with a bright bulb suddenly hovering over her head.

"I guess right? Which means, something very important might be going to happen, or otherwise, already happening right now. Those things, I'd figured, very possible to be closely related to the sea, the ocean, and ultimately, ourselves." Fubuki said in a serious tone, seemingly justifying her thoughts with the two others.

"But what is it?" More question marks appeared in Mutsuki's mind." Isn't the Abyssal Fleet already been utterly destroyed during Operation MI couple of months ago? I thought that there would be no such problems anymore?" Curiously, Mutsuki came out with this question. The other two remained silenced for some moment, their mind scrambling for the most appropriate answer before Fubuki broke the silence.

"Based on my opinion, if for the time being, yes, and according to Ooyodo-san, all the reports from the reconnaissance missions conducted at those locations where the Abyssal Fleet once existed in the months following Operation MI confirmed that there are no enemy fleet still present in any of those areas."

"Which means….?" Mutsuki asked.

"Means that, supposedly, there _should_ be no such threat for now." Fubuki paused, gulped before resuming. "Therefore, regarding the flyover that we had witnessed just now, none of us has any vivid ideas of what's going on right now. Maybe it's just a meeting to improve cooperation and diplomatic relations between us and the other countries? Maybe it's just a meeting to conduct wargaming exercises to improve military cooperation? Think about it, who knows? Right?"

Yuudachi and Mutsuki nodded in agreement.

"But since there's no news or hints from the admiral's office, hence let's just keep our guesses, a matter of our own. There's no need for consultation or inquiry for now, considering not many around here might now about this. For the current moment, I guess the best action to take is to wait for the Secretary Ship Nagato for the updates. If there's really a big matter going on, Nagato-san will surely inform us real soon. Besides, there's no use to worry over something that is barely solid for now, I guess, since we still got more stuffs to be bothered with recently poi." Yuudachi commented.

They both agreed simultaneously.

"Wow! Fubuki-chan, Yuudachi-chan, you two really grown up, aren't you?" Mutsuki answered, surprised of their answer. Yuudachi immediately giggled at Mutsuki's response, while Fubuki just laughed sheepishly.

"It's quite late now, shouldn't we go to bed already? It's almost 2:30 a.m." Mutsuki, attempted to throw her two seniors off their funny moments, gestured at the clock on the wall in their dormitory room. "We still got training tomorrow morning, remember? Don't wanna get caught being late for exercises."

"Yup, you're right. It's better to be the early bird than late!" Fubuki yawned, stretching both her arms into the air as her sleepiness gradually overcame her. She climbed onto her bed, followed by her roommates. "Nice hay, see ya'll in the morning!"

"Night!" Mutsuki and Yuudachi replied in unison, as the dreamland quickly overcame all of them. Nice dream, by the way.


	2. Chapter 2: Rewind Before The Discovery

Hello readers, welcome to my second update of the my Kantai Collection fanfiction: Prelude: The Breeze Before The Storm.

First note: This chapter is ACTUALLY a prologue to Chapter 1: The Unusual Discovery, since this chapter's events happened right before Chapter 1. Most importantly, this chapter actually served as explanation for the upcoming storyline in the series. Without this chapter's interruption, you might not be able to fully understand what's going on later. Many apologies for causing such inconveniences!

Second note: A very great thank you to both the user _mazinkaiser_ and _nimblefire_ respectively for favourite and following my story! Thanks to you all for your support, I'll do my best to publish even better and more interesting updates later on!

Third note: With myself currently living in Malaysia, and with my government and Indonesia being the only two nations worldwide (apart from China and North Korea of course) that blocked access to fanfiction just recently until unspecified date, I'm certain to face much greater difficulty in uploading and updating my storyline from now on. Therefore, I apologize for any inconvenience that resulted from it. But do expect more storyline to come up, I will never give up my passion in fanficiton!

Lastly, again I didn't own any characters from Kancolle, history and WOWS. Feel free to leave your comments below, and cya later!

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With the wall clock ticking at thirty seconds past two fifteen in the morning, the scene were nothing but dead silence and peaceful scene, apart from being momentarily interrupted by the ringing and callings from the insects having parties in the bushes and grasses surrounding Room 25.

But there's certainly no time and mood to celebrate and having party for the three Kanmusus and their admiral right now.

"All these stuffs, once that kept us awake at night for weeks, has returned to haunt us. Ukhh……right?"

The admiral voiced in her usual, cold-and-bright mixed voice, this time being more fatigue than usual. Her head didn't just slam right onto the table, thanks to both her arms which functioned as a jack that threatened to snap at any moment. Her eyelids were drooping like they're going to shut tight anytime, even with herself struggling to keep them open by any means necessary, evidence pointed at the empty cups and dishes, stained with coffee residues that were piled up in the collecting tray just beside the table.

"Yuppp……right……" Assistant-Secretary Ship Mutsu replied, pretty much with the fatigue already dominating half of her mind. She turned to the figure that sat right beside her. "What time is it already, Onee-sama?"

"Hmm……" Secretary Ship Nagato remained as steeled as per her usual style. Looks like she's the only one that could manage to combat the repeated persuasion of tiredness on her, yet there are signs of losing the battle. "Now is almost 3 a.m. in the morning."

Silence ensued as none of them, including the fourth one, Assistant-Secretary Ship Ooyodo were willing to speak. Everyone in the room were struggling to fight the battle of their own – the battle which will only delay their certain defeat. Not until one of them broke the silence.

"BAMM!!!" A loud noise jerked everyone from their almost slumber, and literally sent Mutsu, being the one most sleepy among the four, to jump right out of her chair. Everyone quickly adjusted their senses, trying to figure out what actually happened. Then they looked down on the floor, scouting the origin of the sound.

"Uhh……taken quite a toll on me, haha." The admiral laughed a little, sarcastically. "Just accidentally pushed a file full of documents over the table edge." She hastily bent down to retrieve the scattered papers and put them back at their respective divisions in the file, completely out of courtesy and her kind-of cult-of-personality for being a strict, disciplined and iron-fisted leader of the organisation that composed of hundreds of followers, although sometimes she does have certain soft spots. Alongside, both Nagato and Ooyodo offered helping hands, while Mutsu stayed still, starred at them, her mind remained blank from what just happened. "Sorry." The admiral sounded apologetically.

"It's okay, ma'am." The other three occupants replied simultaneously. After the mess has been cleaned up, the admiral spoke, out of proportion of what her usual voices should be, regarding the fatigue and commotion just now. "Well, let's get back on the topic, shall we? Gotta get a much stronger coffee later. Recommend me later on if you guys have any ideas on better coffees." She managed to set herself straight up before resuming.

"So……regarding this matter. Nagato, Mutsu, Ooyodo, please provide a brief statement of each of your findings and investigations."

"Sure, ma'am." Mutsu was the first one to comply. She pulled out a report logbook and read out its contents. "Based on the reports from the reconnaissance missions conducted by our scouting planes, PT (Patrol-Torpedo) boats and submarines in the past three years since Operation MI, all of which confirmed that no presence of any Abyssal Vessels, or any Abyssal Forces within the range of our operating bases."

She spread out a world map on the almost fully-covered table, pushing neat piles books, files and documents sideways a little to make use the maximum possible exposed surface of the table. Everyone lifted their body a little, bent over the table edges towards the map while Mutsu continued. "There have been no solid, credible indication and information regarding the presence of the Abyssal Fleet anywhere in the zone of our operation most of the time." She pointed out several places on the map as the others with their eyeballs followed where her finger pointed at. "Kuril Islands. Okinawa. Iwo Jima. Saipan. Majuro. Kwajalein Atoll. Truk Atoll. Palau." Her finger swept across Western Pacific clockwise, ultimately ended with the surrounding waters north of Japan. "Even the surrounding waters of the home islands. None present."

She then pulled out another logbook, this time with more detailed reports in it. "Secondly, with reports from various observation centres and radar stations that scattered across the islands under our control, there has been no indication of any souls, energies, portals, or given at least abnormal activities that these threats ever surfaced, again, for most of the time."

Their faces became more puzzled, as increasing number of question marks came up in their minds. Mutsu settled down for a while before the admiral interjects.

"How often are the reconnaissance missions being carried out, Mutsu?" The admiral asked.

"On a twice-per-week basis for each mode-of-reconnaissance, ma'am. There always have grave concerns that the Abyssal Fleet may return, per ma'am's order and considerations that not all of the Abyssal Forces were being wiped out during the whole duration of the war that concluded three years before." Mutsu replied.

"Yup, you're right." The admiral nodded.

"May I continue my briefing, ma'am?" Mutsu asked, which the admiral nodded. "Besides, with utmost precautionary urgency and importance in mind, we've conducted all these reconnaissance missions with alternating and constantly-shifting schedule. Plus, with the rotational, often non-consistent, interjecting usage of various types and classes of subs, planes and boats/ships for these missions, even with them trying to gather information regarding our surveillance mission, their intelligence would have screwed up."

"Great. A cunning fox can outsmart a tiger, that's the way." The admiral replied, with slight grin on her face that all her instructions, and sometimes, her teachings to her followers during free time doesn't sink straight to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

"But," Mutsu continued on her statement. "It's alongside these reconnaissance missions, that starting four months ago, we've noticed that in parts of the Pacific Ocean, especially areas where the Abyssal Fleet once originates and-slash-or present before, does showed acute signs of their revival. Or to be exact, indications of the Abyssals' return from the abyss."

The whole room was in dead silence for a few seconds, trying meticulously to absorb the information piece that, they would soon find out, are just the beginning of a way much larger puzzle maze, before the admiral spoke again.

"I see……which means my predictions are totally correct all the way indeed." She sensed that nobody in the room spoke, so she resumed. "In case you guys still remember, right after everyone came back from Operation MI, I did announce that 'A Great Victory Has Been Achieved Over The Abyssal Forces', right?"

Everyone around her nodded in agreement.

"But things aren't as simple as it might be. Note the word 'Great Victory' instead of 'Total Victory'." She continued, with the emphasizing of the word "instead", justifying her of being a person that uses words and phrases with extreme caution and detail in every one of her sentence and speech. "Therefore, you guys should have some basic assumptions and considerations that this problem never really went away after Operation MI."

"What's the meaning ma'am?" Nagato asked, while the other two looked at the admiral with even more curiosity that were directed at the said target.

"Well……" The admiral swallowed with a bit of struggle, before continuing. "On the night right after the end of Operation MI, my guts persuaded me that something hadn't been done. Something hadn't been completed, and that something had never been finished rather than what should be the results. It's a hanging situation, something so much identical with the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941."

"But of course, many of my workmates and superiors dismissed my opinions and claims that the Abyssal Fleet are still present, laying around somewhere within the vast ocean, waiting for the right time and opportunity to strike and overwhelm us, where and when we are at our most unprepared stance. And yet, many, if not most of the navy's admirals still believe that the Abyssal Fleet is just another page of our history archives."

She then resumed. "However, I always trust my own instinct. My mind and heart always tell me what's going to happen in the near or far future, and for ninety-nine percent of all the cases, they struck bullseye. Very rarely that my guess will go miss. So, I'm absolutely confident that this war is far from over."

"That's why I ordered the reconnaissance and surveillance missions to go on, even with most of us believing that Operation MI is the death sentence for the Abyssal Fleet. And it seems that my gamble had paid off. Not a finding that worth celebrating though." She said with a sigh at the end.

That must be a new knowledge, and a hard fact that literally slammed everyone in their minds, whom none of them, except the admiral, really expecting such impossibility could be overturned in just a matter of months.

"Nagato, your briefing please." The admiral said, shaking off the sudden pause while attentively listening to what were their next findings.

"Yes, ma'am." Nagato then took one of the stacks of files and documents from the far end of the table and flipped open the uppermost one. "Based on our knowledge so far, although their presence may seem to be too minimal to be noticeable, but their aura and energy is far too creditable to go unnoticed. Most of the indicators and measuring devices displayed abnormal readings. They went absolutely haywire as we thought in the first place, but continuous receiving of such information and through calculations during these months that we've came up with the answer that this wasn't any routine occurrence. From what we can conclude right now, the Abyssal Fleets are back."

Everyone remained silent as a wood plank while Nagato went on.

"And ma'am, all of the locations where these abnormal readings were registered are at those said location that Mutsu have pointed out beforehand, or let's just refer them as 'hotspots'." She took out a five-millimetre-diameter-tip black-inked marker pen from her pocket and pulled apart its cover from the pen itself effortlessly. She then drew a series of crosses across the map where the abnormal readings were registered and recorded while telling out their respective date of discovery and their approximate directions and distances from those mentioned islands.

"The first one is discovered on February 22nd, 340 nautical miles west of Palau. Second one is Saipan, 470 nautical miles north-northeast. On March 3rd its Majuro's turn, 410 nautical miles northeast. Following up twelve days later is Truk, one of which is 185 nautical miles southwest and the other one 290 nautical miles south-southeast. Next up on 19th of March, another two appeared on the east and southeast, both around 380 and 570 nautical miles away accordingly."

Nagato shifted her body a little, so her pen is above the waters around Japan and the nearby islands. "The next 'hotspot', discovered on 2nd of April is 735 nautical miles east of Iwo Jima, and three days later 525 nautical miles south of the same island. Then on the 14th, another one is detected roughly 640 nautical miles southwest of Okinawa, and on the 28th is 330 nautical miles north of Kuril Islands."

"And more intriguingly, the last three appeared just of our shores. On the 5th of May, 445 nautical miles west of Hirosaki. Then just a day later, 230 nautical miles east-northeast of Sendai." At this point, Nagato's voice has became grim than ever before.

"Last but not least, just five days prior, we discovered the nearest 'hotspot' so far – just 120 nautical miles south of Yokohama." She ended with a cross on the southern waters off Japan, before she sat back on her chair. Everyone looked at the map as if there were sharp thorns piercing up from the exact middle of those crosses.

Everyone's faces turned dark.

They've never expect that the return of the Abyssal Fleet to be such……stunningly overwhelming and unpredictable. Neither of them ever thought that they were back in such great numbers, greater than even their most pessimistic estimations. Neither of them ever considered of this particular issue could brew into such dire situation in that short span of time. It's a dilemma that none of them has ever prepared for.

The whole room fell into a complete stalemate, as nobody spoke or move even one of their muscles. Excluding their brain of course, which were busily removing the numerous knots that were tied with extreme complexity. Everyone was struggling to allow the information to sink in, let alone making analysis and conclusion. Nothing outside could really bother them anyway, it seemed.

"Ooyodo, your turn on the briefing please." The admiral called out, unsurprisingly calm.

"Aye ma'am." Ooyodo replied. "There have been increasingly large number of sighting reports flooding in regarding 'something' on the surface of the seas that closely resembled the Abyssal Vessels. Hold on a second." She took out a roll of projector slides and put it into the slide roll holder of a carousel slide projector, which was situated behind the table. Later, she switched on the power source of the projector, where gradually a beam of light projected images directly on a perpendicular screen, across the room and right in front of them.

"Have a look of these photographs." Ooyodo continued, while the pictures automatically slide to the next one at a constant six-second-intervals. "Most of these photographs came in blurry from the witnesses, with only their outlines visible. But after we've done some clarification and processing work, these are the results."

The admiral, Nagato and Mutsu viewed through the photographs one-by-one, with their eyes' pupils scrutinizing on the said figure(s) in those photos. As time passed by, both the Nagato-class battleships exhibited curious and puzzled expression on their faces.

"There's something very odd of all these pictures. All of them doesn't really resembles alike any kind of Abyssal Vessels in the past war!" Mutsu commented. "None of them look alike what we've recognized as Abyssal Vessels before, apart from their colour and the emblems on their body as their distinctive feature."

"What do you mean, Mutsu?" The admiral asked.

"Ma'am, have another look of these." Ooyodo handed out another stack of photographs from a box beside the projector to her. The photographs have slight yellowish stain and layer covered on them, indicating that these photos were taken very long time ago, even with good visibility and high quality of the camera when the photos were taken. After a while, a bulb began to glow brighter above her head. "Oh I see. Which means……"

"The Abyssal Vessels came back in various different forms. Forms that is much complex and complicated than their previous 'versions'." Mutsu replied with a slight jinx in her tone. "For example, this one, ma'am." She handed over an old picture of an Abyssal aircraft carrier. "Last time, the Abyssal's aircraft carriers came in only two classes – The Wo-class standard carrier, and the Nu-class light carrier. But right now, there are at least six various forms of aircraft carriers, differ from each other in terms of their construction, design and size."

"Secondly, the battleships." Mutsu continued. "There are only three classes previously: Ta, Ru and Re-class. Instead, now we've discovered at least eleven forms of their battleships. The same goes with the cruisers, destroyers and submarines. So far, we have classified at least fifty different ship classes among the carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers and submarines."

The admiral nodded silently in acknowledgement.

"And that's not it, ma'am." Mutsu's sister ship interjects. "Based on my observations and the experiences gained during the war, I've noticed that most of the Abyssal Vessels have close resemblance to the ship classes of our own Kanmusus. Have a look on these two, ma'am."

Nagato requested Ooyodo to pause the slideshow which displayed an Abyssal heavy cruiser. She then took out sets of files with each Kanmusu's detailed information inside. She picked one which labelled "Heavy Cruiser (CA - IJN)" and opened a page that wrote the topic "Detail Information of Heavy Cruiser: Atago" and handed it over to the admiral. The admiral swapped her view to-and-fro between the slide on the screen and the picture inside the file exactly trice each, followed up with the same process for a few other ships: Fuso, Kaga, Shimakaze and even Nimu.

A light bulb immediately lit up over the admiral's head. She realised something.

"The Abyssals aren't just evil monsters, they are also damn good copycats. And damn great reverse engineers as well." She commented, with a sarcastic tone in it. "They knew at some point that they're gonna lose the war, so they started gathering information on our Kanmusus' blueprints and stored them in their unknown safe heaven, so in case defeat is inevitable for them, they can still use utilize the 'stolen' information to revive again." She clenched her right-hand fist and rest them on the table. "Should have ordered more seek-and-destroy missions right after Operation MI to wipe them clean off the surface of the Earth."

The two battleships and a lone cruiser stayed silent, unsure of what to say. They remained so until the admiral spoke again.

"Nagato, I supposed that you have done some inquiry with navies from other navies. Any news?"

"Aye, ma'am. I've contacted the admirals and Secretary-Ships of the navies of United States, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and several other countries. All of which have solid evidences that numerous abnormal activities and sightings of the Abyssal Fleets on numerous points all across the world's oceans, which are marked with details on this map. Total count so far registered at least 120 hotspots." She rolled open another world map over the previous ones, with cross marks clearly dotted all around the seas and oceans. The other two ships gasped in awe, totally unexpecting that this problem isn't unique to the Japanese only. This is a global issue, as well as everybody's issue.

"Unbelievable." Mutsu muttered.

Apart from that, the admiral had some different reactions. Instead of mouth-gapping, a slight smile formed on her maroon-red lips. She does have different thoughts than the others surrounding her, the one characteristic which made her stand out among her followers.

"It seems like we are not alone after all, I guess. All the others have their equal share of our problems too. Hence, no need to put all these on our back I guess? Other navies have their share of difficulties too, right?" The admiral commented.

None of them replied, unfortunately. And that wasn't strange after all. The admiral knew exactly why they have such unanimous reaction.

But deep within her mind, one grand plan had reached its utmost completion. The plan that would change her, and every single Kanmusu's live, and not just them, but around the world, forever.

A few moments passed by. Dead silence ensued, with only the ticking of the clock that decorated the time and space around the room. Without any time left to hesitate, the admiral decided to lay out her ultimate plan to her assistants.

"I do have something roaming in my mind. Nagato? Mutsu? Ooyodo?" The admiral voiced, back in her authoritative tone.

"Yes ma'am?"

"I'll be holding a meeting with the admirals and their subordinates of the navies of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France and Russia this upcoming Sunday, that is 1st of June, location: Base 89. Therefore, I've tasks for each of you, so listen carefully. Secretary Ship Nagato?"

"Aye ma'am?"

"Nagato, I want you to arrange more frequent schedules of surveillance and patrol missions around our base of operations. Report directly to me if any new developments and findings come into play. Collect any information, findings and reports whereas available and present to me ASAP (as-soon-as-possible). I want not a single bit of evidence to slip away unnoticed. Everything should be clear and complete before the meeting commences."

"Roger, ma'am!"

"Assistant-Secretary Ship Ooyodo?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Ooyodo, I want you to communicate with them and notify them regarding this meeting ASAP. Also, inform them to reply immediately regarding their status. Let them know that this meeting is of utmost importance and urgent. Urge every one of them to attend or send their representatives here. We can't miss out anyone of them. A single piece of our vital puzzle missing, and the whole stage may never be completed."

"Got it, ma'am!"

"Assistant-Secretary Ship Mutsu?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Mutsu, put forth the preparations for the upcoming meeting. I want everything in the venue be ready for it. Meeting rooms, guest houses, mess halls, et cetera in Base 89. Besides, during the duration of their visit, I want the sky and sea within 250 nautical miles of Base 89 clear of any unusual activities and credible threats. Conduct round-the-clock patrol missions along their period-of-stay at the base."

"On it, ma'am!"

"Good. I'll work out contingency plans for the extraction of our guests to safety in case any emergency situation occurs. I want every single guest arrive and leave without any scratch." The admiral concluded her orders. "And remember this everyone," she added on. "Everything related to this matter: the reappearance of Abyssal Fleet, their information, findings, reports, et cetera, plus everything that lead up to this upcoming meeting, are matters of Top Secret. No one else outside of Room 25, not even your close friends, and any other Kanmusus shall have a single bit of the information we've discussed today. One small leak and we're finished for damn sure. Understand?"

"Understood, ma'am!" The ships replied energetically in unison.

"Good. And guys? We're going to have a superb long hellish time ahead of us. So just go to bed, we'll work out the rest later on. All of you are pardoned from your duties for the rest of the day. But I want the tasks provided to be done ASAP. Dismissed!"

"Ma'am!" Nagato, Mutsu and Ooyodo saluted the admiral before they dragged their fatigue-overwhelmed body towards their dorm, while the admiral just sat lazily on her chair, let out a long sigh, and turned her vision at the wall clock right above the door frame.

"Already four in the morning? Gotta reprimand myself to sleep early next time. Damn these Abyssals. Always trying to force me to be unhealthy and fall sick. I don't wanna die at an early age, the world is still a beautiful and amazing place for me to explore."

She stood up abruptly. "Well, time for dreamland!" She yawned and stretched her arms, before she too dragged herself out of the room, not forgot to switch off all electrical appliances in the room before closing the door, soon disappeared into the pitch black darkness of the corridor outside that lead to her dorm.


End file.
